Strawberry Muffins

Servings: muffins

Calories: 247cal

Chop strawberries into 1/2-inch pieces. Weight out 2-ounces of the strawberries and place them into a shallow bowl. Set the other 6 ounces of chopped berries aside. Sprinkle the 2-ounces of berries with sugar, vanilla and balsamic vinegar and toss to coat. Let sit for about an hour.
8 ounces strawberries, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Run the macerated strawberries through a mini food processor and pour into a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until it comes to a gentle boil. Cook, stirring often, until thickened, like jam. Transfer to a bowl and let cool.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin, or line tin with paper cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, freshly ground black pepper, flour, baking powder, salt, and ginger.
3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla and lemon extracts, milk, and melted butter (make sure the melted butter is cool before you add it).
2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract, 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup unsalted butter
Fold the wet and dry ingredients together until just combined. Drop the homemade jam into the batter by tablespoons. Gently swirl the jam into the batter with a few turns of the rubber spatula. Do not over mix.
Divide one half of the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups.
Add a layer of the chopped strawberries, then divide the remaining half of the batter over the layer of berries.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for about ten minutes. Remove from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

When muffins are cool, line the work surface with a piece of waxed paper. Place cooling rack with muffins over the waxed paper.
Mix together the glaze ingredients. If too thick, add drops of milk until you reach drizzling consistency.
1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon milk, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Drizzle muffins with glaze. The wax paper will catch the drips. Let the glaze set before serving.

5 from 3 votes

Don't use "pepper dust" as I like to call it, which is the black pepper you buy that is already ground and you pour into your pepper shaker. Freshly ground is better and essential. You see, if you use freshly ground it's going to weigh less than packaged black pepper because of the different sized granules. So use your grinder.
When you cut up your berries, cut them into 1/2-inch pieces. There's a step in the recipe that suggests simmering and reducing some of the macerated berries to make a jam to swirl into the batter, but you could probably substitute jar jam instead.
Most baking recipes call for softened butter, however in this case you will be melting the butter. It's important to let it cool though as it will be combined with the eggs. If the butter is too hot, it could partially cook the eggs, causing little scrambled bits.
I do not recommend using frozen strawberries for this recipe. If you absolutely must, please thaw them completely and drain a bit on paper towels. You don't want to squeeze the juice out, but you don't want them dripping wet either.
Mix this batter by hand, not with an electric mixer. Over beating the batter causes the protein strands to combine from the gluten, which will make the muffins tough.

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Prep Time2

Cook Time20

Total Time2 20